The Wedding of Zein (New York Review Books Classics) by Tayeb Salih

Author:Tayeb Salih [Salih, Tayeb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2011-04-19T22:00:00+00:00

Zein gave a wide, knowing smile, revealing his new teeth. ‘Because my nurse took a fancy to me’.

‘There is no god but God,’ exclaimed Abdul Hafeez. ‘You good-for-nothing, were you even flirting with the nurses?’

Zein’s body shook with stifled laughter. ‘Oh yes, believe me she was quite a wench.’

Hamad Wad Rayyis, who up to now had been listening and laughing but not saying anything, intervened with: ‘The Prophet bless you, Zein—give us a description of her.’

Zein looked behind him as though frightened that someone might overhear him and lowered his voice: ‘God save us, men, she had quite a backside on her!’

The thread of the conversation was broken for a time as the assembly rocked with laughter. When Hamad Wad Rayyis had recovered his breath—though vestiges of laughter still remained in his chest—he said: ‘What did you do to her, you rascal?’

‘The wench was from Omdurman,’ Zein continued as though not having heard the last question. ‘She was smooth-checked without cuts.’

Wad Rayyis crawled up close to Zein and repeated his question in another form: ‘And how did you come to know she had a large backside?’

Zein immediately retorted: ‘Did they tell you I’m blind? Can’t I see what’s there right in front of me?’

Mahjoub, delighted at the reply and looking at Wad Rayyis, said: ‘The scoundrel knows what’s what.’

Zein put his hands behind his head, and leaned backwards slightly; then, with a mischievous smile on his face, he slowly said: ‘Do you want to know, men, what I did to her?’

Eagerly Wad Rayyis said, ‘By the Prophet, Zein, tell us what you did to her.’

Zein’s smile widened, then he opened his mouth to speak and some of the light from the large lamp hanging in Sa’eed’s shop was reflected on his teeth. But suddenly, at a bound, he was on his feet, just as though he’d been stung by a scorpion. Up jumped Ahmed Isma’il and Mahjoub, Taher Rawwasi and Hamad Wad Rayyis. ‘Hold on to him,’ shouted Abdul Hafeez. Zein, though, was quicker than them and in a flash had seized hold of his man, had raised him high in the air and thrown him to the ground. Then he tightened his grip on his throat. They all fell upon Zein, Ahmed Isma’il seizing hold of his right arm, Abdul Hafeez of his left, with Taher Rawwasi taking him by the middle, and Hamad Wad Rayyis by his legs. Sa’eed, who was weighing out something in his shop, hurried out and also took hold of Zein’s legs. Even so they were not successful.

There flowed into Zein’s lean body an immensely terrifying strength with which no one could deal. All the inhabitants of the village knew of this fearful strength and stood in awe of it, and Zein’s family did all they could to see he did not use it against anyone. They would shake in terror when they remembered how Zein had once seized a difficult calf by the horns, had lifted it from the ground like a bundle

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